Leadership requires us to view our world through trifocal lenses.
1) Intermediate Vision
2) Reading Vision
3) Distance Vision
Proverbs 28:19 sums it up better than I ever could: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
Utilizing our imagination reduces the chances for the mundane to creep into our lives.
The minute creativity and newness leaves our lives, businesses, and families we allow the water to get stagnant.
No matter the area of our live’s we look into, if “that’s how we’ve always done it” is the chorus in our music – soon that music will stop.
“That’s how we’ve always done it” puts us knee-deep in inescapable mud.
“What if we….? Could it be…? Imagine what the world would be like if……..” – These questions drop us in the deep blue waters of Capri.
Mud puddles are lame. Crashing waves, on the other hand – I can get lost in those all day.
The question is not how can I utilize my imagination better, but where does imagination gets its spark from? I’m not too sure, but I tend to feel the rays of her warmth every time I question, every time I challenge the status quo, and every time I stop and listen.
An eager ear given to a small seashell just may be able to unlock the secrets of the ocean your trying to decode.
The digital ecosystem is here to stay. But we were human before we were digital – we had soul before we had batteries.
We text and say “we talked.” We email and say “we wrote them a note”. While these digital avenues can accomplish the same exchange of information, the weight of the exchange is much different between the two.
There is a ton of beauty in this new digital ecosystem, but it will never be able to overshadow the spoken word or the physical touch.
If you think there will come a time when you can ask your girlfriend to marry you via text message – think again. If you try, you won’t find a fiance – you’ll find the man in the mirror to be single again.
Rule of thumb: If you can be human in an exchange, be human.
A thank you note given in your handwritten ink will always be remembered more than a text alert in the recipient’s pocket.
We all want to be told we are loved, not tweeted we are loved.
“…._______ is music to my ears.”
The most important part in the previous sentence is the “blank“________. The goal of every leader, husband, and dad is to determine what that “blank” is and provide a means to fill it. Fill in the blank and music enters the recipient’s ears.
The first commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” God asks for the blank to be filled with us loving with heart, soul, mind, and strength – THAT is music to His ears.
This leads to an interesting take on the second commandment, The Golden Rule. When you love your neighbor as yourself, you leave your shoes, enter your neighbors shoes, and ask “would that, fill in the blank, be music these shoes would dance to?”
A husband that loves his wife like he loves himself, a dad that loves his daughter like he loves himself, and a leader that loves his customer like he loves himself composes music that his wife, daughter, and client have no choice but to moonwalk to.
The scriptures claim “There is no commandment greater than these.” Focus on these two commandments and the music will play.
He who fills in the blank is bestowed the title of maestro – and any business, parenting, and relationship plan that follows this blueprint wins.
Ashton.Gustafson 